Local Media: US, Not Taliban, Killed Afghan BBC Reporter

BBC Urges NATO Inquiry Into Disputed Reports

by Jason Ditz, August 01, 2011

When the Taliban launched attacks on the Uruzgan Province last Thursday, it was reported that a local BBC reporter, Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, was among those slain by them. The Taliban denied this, but it was given very little credence at the time.

Local media reports, however, now suggest that the reporter survived the Taliban bombings and was actually shot by US troops in the wake of a gunbattle in the area. The BBC is now asking NATO for a “full inquiry” into the killing.

An odd aspect of this is that the initial reports of fighting were centered almost exclusively around the marketplace, which was not where Khpulwak was.

The 25 year old reporter had worked for the BBC since 2008, and was at a local TV station in Tarin Kowt when the attacks hit in the area. NATO insisted it “assesses every civilian casualty allegation” and will do so in the case of the reporter.

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